That evening Nina hurried to the cafeteria to meet with Amy for dinner as she had said she would. When she arrived, Amy was already at a table and much to Nina’s dismay; she was surrounded by the Moron Squad. It didn’t exactly surprise her though but how was she supposed to talk to her sister with those nosey idiots around? She went and got a sandwich and then made her way over to where Amy was.
“There you are,” Amy said as Nina came up to the table. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up.”
Nina looked for an empty space. The only one was opposite her sister and next to Austin so she decided to take it for now. “Yeah, sorry, I got a bit distracted and nearly forgot about coming to get dinner,” she said as she unwrapped her sandwich.
“Oh? Distracted with what?” Amy asked winking at her.
“I’ll tell you later…” she muttered.
Amy picked up on the fact that Nina didn’t really want to talk in front of Riley and the others. Whatever she had been distracted with Amy was pretty sure it had to have something to do with Adrienne. She was going to suggest they go for a walk but Austin had decided to try and talk to Nina.
“Hey, um… Nina?” Austin started.
Nina looked at him. “What is it?” she asked trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt.
“I was wondering, well, are you… would it be alright…”
Nina took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “Spit it out Havoc,” she said, the annoyance she felt slipping a bit more through in her voice.
“Well, I was wondering if you were doing anything later…”
Unable to help it, Nina broke out laughing. He was trying to ask her out, there was something really pathetic about that, at least Nina thought so. There was a part of her that actually thought the only reason Austin was even trying this was because he really wanted Amy but he knew there was no way he was going to get her because of Riley so he’d figured he’d try to the other sister instead. “You’re something else Havoc, really. But sorry, I already have plans tonight,” Nina said as she got up to toss out the wrapper from her dinner.
“What about maybe tomorrow then?” he tried again.
Nina just laughed again. “Give it up Havoc. You and I both know I’m not the girl for you, besides I…” She stopped herself just before she accidently let it slip that she already had someone else. It wasn’t any of their business and she didn’t need them knowing anyway. They’d never leave her alone if they did.
Austin slumped in his chair clearly defeated. “You didn’t have to laugh…” he said softly.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it. But really Havoc, I think you’d have better luck with my roomy than you would with me. Try talking to her…” Nina said using the first person she could think of to smooth the air a bit. She actually did feel a little bad for laughing like she had and pretty much crushed his spirit in the same way his father crushed out a cigarette.
“Who’s your room mate?” Riley asked.
“Julia Rockbell…”
Amy looked at Nina. “Julia’s your room mate?”
Nina nodded. “Yeah I was just as surprised. Winry didn’t want her to come but I guess she made a pretty strong case and got her dad on her side so Winry relented and let her. She’s actually going to specialize in the medical alchemy program too.”
Amy nodded. “That actually makes sense to me. Just can’t miss the irony of you having her as a roommate considering the stories Dad told us about when they were all growing up in Resembool.”
Nina shrugged. “Yeah but I have to get going, like I said, I have plans tonight. I’ll see you guys at orientation tomorrow morning.”
The Moron Squad waved as she walked away. Amy quickly got up telling Riley she’d be right back and then hurried to catch up to her sister. “So what are these plans you have?” she asked.
“I’m meeting Adrienne,” she said with a bit of a goofy grin.
“Oh? Is he staying here in the dorms?”
Nina shook her head. “No, he’s staying at home but from what he told me earlier when I talked to him on the phone, he only lives around the corner from the school so it’s not far. He’s actually going to be meeting me out front in a few minutes.”
“Wait, you have his phone number?” Amy asked sounding a bit confused. “You never told me that.”
Nina blushed. “I wanted to keep it to myself until I knew for sure it wasn’t just some cosmic joke. He left it for me after we finished the acceptance exam…”
Amy had walked with Nina all the way to the front door of the dorms. When they got there, a rather tall young man with long braided white hair was standing at the bottom of the steps. Nina’s heart jumped into her chest.
“Is that him?” Amy asked seeing the look in Nina’s eyes when she’d spotted him.
Nina nodded. “Yeah, that’s Adrienne…”
“Well, are you going to just leave him standing out there waiting for you?” Amy asked with a wink nudging her.
Nina came to her senses and shook her head. “No,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll see you later alright?”
“You’re not going to introduce me to him Little Sis?”
Nina sighed and just laughed. “Oh alright, come on,” she said as she pushed open the door.
Hearing the door, Adrienne turned around and smiled seeing her there. “Hi Nina!” he said waving to her.
Amy followed a few steps behind Nina as she descended the stairs to the bottom where he was waiting. Seeing Amy, Adrienne smiled at her too. “You must be Amy Elric,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Amy chuckled. “Know about me already huh? But yup, I’m Nina’s twin sister Amy and you must be Adrienne. Nina’s told me a little bit about you.”
“She has huh?” he replied with a chuckle. “I hope it was good stuff.”
“Yeah it was,” she said with a smile. “Oh well, I won’t hold you guys up anymore. Besides,
I have my own friends to get back to. Have fun!” With that Amy turned and went back inside.
Nina stood there looking a bit embarrassed. She was here but she had no idea what to do now. Adrienne held his hand out to her indicating that if she wanted to she could take it. Figuring it would be rude if she didn’t; Nina reached out and took his hand.
“So, where to?” Adrienne asked smiling at her.
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” she replied blushing. “I’m not really…”
“Really what?”
“Well I’m actually kinda new at this… I really haven’t dated all that much. Actually, I’ve never…”
Adrienne chuckled. “Well believe it or not I haven’t either so don’t worry about it so much OK? Why don’t we just go for a walk and see what happens, that sound alright?”
Nina relaxed a bit and nodded. “Yeah, that actually sounds perfect.”
Hand in hand the two of them headed away from the dorms. Nina purposely led him on a path away from the Military Police patrols. The last thing she wanted was for one of them to stop them and cut their date short. She was pretty sure she wasn’t in any danger anyway since she wasn’t alone and Adrienne wasn’t exactly wimpy looking.
Once they were a little bit away from the school and the dorms, Adrienne took the lead and took her to a square with a fountain in the middle. They sat on the edge of it taking a break.
“So, what is there to do around here?” Nina said finally breaking the silence.
Adrienne stopped and thought about it for a moment then looked at her a bit embarrassed. “I actually don’t really know. I’m actually a little embarrassed to admit this but my dad usually doesn’t let me out much. He’s very over protective.”
Nina looked at him a bit curiously. “Why?”
He sighed heavily. He knew he had to be careful about how he put this or else he would let his secret slip and then his father would never let him out of the house again. He wouldn’t be able to be here like this with Nina ever again if that happened. “Well, I was really sick for a long time when I was younger and he’s never really gotten over it. I think he’s afraid he’ll lose me like we lost my mom when I was a baby. She was really sick too and died not long after I was born.”
“That’s so sad,” she said softly. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like to not have both parents around.”
Adrienne shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad, most of the time anyway. My dad tried to make up for it as much as he could. For as busy as he is, he always made time for me.”
Nina smiled at him. “Dr. Rothstein does seem like a kind man.”
They sat there for a while not saying anything. Nina didn’t know what else to talk about and it seemed neither did Adrienne. Things began to feel a little awkward at least until Nina sneezed and accidently fell backwards into the fountain.
“Nina!” Adrienne shouted as he got up to help her out of the water. “Are you alright?”
She just sat there in the water for a minute laughing. Adrienne couldn’t help but laugh with her. Even soaking wet as she was, he couldn’t help but notice how bright and pretty she was when she laughed.
“Come on, get out of there before you catch a cold,” he said still laughing a bit as he offered her his hand.
She looked up at him and took his hand. Her breath caught a bit as she noticed the moon seemed to be right behind him. It made him look, well for lack of a better way to put it, it made him look like an angel.
He looked at her a bit strangely seeing that she seemed to be off somewhere in thought. “Nina? You sure you’re OK?”
Hearing his voice she snapped out of it and just smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine, couldn’t be better actually,” she answered as she got up with his help and got out of the fountain. “We should head back though. Like you said, I don’t want to catch cold being all wet like this.”
Adrienne nodded. “You’re probably right. If it’s OK with you, I’ll walk you back.”
“I’d like that,” she said softly. “Thanks.”
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